Voices of China
Inheritance — Lan Samantha Chang
This is a story of family relations and personal compromises amid struggles to survive political upheaval. Junan and Yinan are inseparable sisters. Li Ang, a soldier, marries Junan; however, when the Japanese invade China, the couple is separated. Junan sends her sister Yinan to look after Li Ang but the arrangement soon becomes complicated when Yinan and Li Ang fall in love.
Brothers — Da Chen
At the height of China's Cultural Revolution a powerful general fathered two sons. Tan was born to the general's wife and into a life of comfort and luxury. His half brother, Shento, was born to the general's mistress. Separated by distance and opportunity, Tan and Shento follow the paths that lie before them, while unknowingly falling in love with the same woman and moving toward the explosive moment when their fates finally merge.
China Dolls — Michelle Yu and Blossom Kan
Three Asian-American women in New York City endure a series of difficult challenges, from M.J.'s efforts to safeguard her career in a male-dominated industry, to Alex's attempts to break Chinese stereotypes, to Lin's hopes of finding true love.
The Noodle Maker — Ma Jian
A satirical and powerfully written novel about the absurdities and cruelties of life in post-Tianamen China. Two men, a writer of political propaganda and a professional blood donor, meet for dinner every week. During the course of one drunken evening, the writer recounts the stories he would write, had he the courage.
A Free Life — Ha Jin
In the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Nan Wu, who had studied in the U.S. in the mid-1980s, leaves China with his wife and son to seek the freedom of the West, embarking on a migration that takes them through the heart of contemporary America.
The Middle Heart — Bette Bao Lord
As China struggles under Japanese occupation, three unlikely companions are bound by their steadfast patriotism: Steel Hope, heir to a once-great aristocracy; Mountain Pine, his crippled, scholarly servant; and Firecrackers, a poor gravekeeper's daughter. In a youthful pact, they call themselves "Brothers of the Middle Heart," vowing to defend their country to the end.
Empress Orchid— Anchee Min
Min re-creates the life of the last empress of the Manchu dynasty, from her beginnings in a poor but honorable family to her becoming concubine to the emperor of China, to being designated his adviser and helpmate. Once chosen to be one of the emperor's seven main wives, Orchid soon discovers that the supposedly privileged life inside Peking's Forbidden City is as fraught as her hardscrabble existence outside its walls.
The Last Empress — Anchee Min
In the sequel to Empress Orchid, Min picks up Orchid's story. Departing from the stereotype of Orchid as the "dragon lady" empress, Min uses first-person narration to portray her as a caring mother to emperor Tung Chih and her nephew, Emperor Guang-hsu.
Wolf Totem — Jiang Rong
An epic Chinese tale that depicts the dying culture of the Mongols – the ancestors of the Mongol hordes who at one time terrorized the world – and the parallel extinction of the animal they believe to be sacred: the fierce and otherworldly Mongolian wolf.
The Girl Who Played Go — Shan Sa
When hostilities break out between her fellow citizens in Manchuria and their Japanese occupiers, a 16-year old girl becomes disdainful of the adult world and dominates local go competitions until she is challenged by a disguised Japanese soldier.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan — Lisa See
Foot binding, nu shu (a secret language used exclusively by women) and laotong, the arranged friendship between little girls meant to last a lifetime, provide the framework for See's riveting look at a little-known chapter in Chinese history. In 1903, 80-year-old Lily looks back on her life, which was anchored by her laotong relationship with the beautiful Snow Flower.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress — Dai Sijie
The surprise literary bestseller of the year, this is a beguiling fable that shines with the wonder of imagination, the beauty of romance and the power of storytelling. Set during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the novel tells the story of two hapless city boys sent to a remote mountain village for reeducation.
Bonesetter’s Daughter — Amy Tan
Compulsively readable and beautifully structured around three richly metaphorical themes – bones, hosts and ink – this novel tells the stories of three generations of women, beginning at the turn of the 20th century in a small Chinese village, where the bonesetter, a skilled healer, defies tradition and teaches his daughter everything he knows.
Death of a Red Heroine — Qiu Xiaolong
The murder of a young woman found in a canal some distance from Shanghai threatens to go unnoticed and unsolved until someone identifies her as a well-known national model worker. Chief Inspector Chen Cao, a rapidly rising detective with a penchant for Tang and Song dynasty poetry, heads the case, which has become a sudden political event.
Soul Mountain — Gao Xingjian
Venerable Daoist masters, Buddhist nuns, mythical Wild Men and deadly Qichun snakes populate this bold, lyrical novel, an extraordinary work of profound beauty by the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2000.